Heffernan Brings Up Team-High 30 Digs as Volleyball Faces NYIT and Stonehill
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Box Score 2 OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Oct. 17, 2015) – Despite a team-high 30 digs from freshman Brianna Heffernan (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip), the Mercy College volleyball team dropped a, 3-0 (16-25, 19-25, 14-25) decision to East Coast Conference (ECC) foe NYIT before falling to Stonehill College, 3-0 (9-25, 22-25, 20-25) on Saturday afternoon at Recreation Hall.
The Mavericks (5-19, 1-7 ECC) fall to 3-9 in true road matches and 1-5 in neutral site contests, while NYIT (15-4, 5-3 ECC) remains unbeaten at home. Stonehill (8-11) snaps a four-match losing streak with their win over Mercy.
Freshman Peyton Olson (Albany, Ore./West Albany) ended the day with 13 kills and 13 digs, while sophomore Sa'Naya Johnson (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) finished with 12 kills. Freshman Brooke Runge (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Demarest) dished out a team-high 24 assists and junior Floriana Rraci (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) added 18 digs.
NYIT was led by Kate Brock who had a match-high 12 kills.
Leading Stonehill was Delia Phillips who finished with a match-high 15 kills.
NYIT 3, Mercy 0
The Bears got off to a strong start in the opening set of the match, scoring the first six points of the set and did not look back in taking a 1-0 lead as they hit .278 in the frame.
The second set of the match saw NYIT get off to a 7-2 start before the Mavericks fought their way back and evened up the set at 17-17. However, the Bears closed the set on an 8-2 run to close the set and build a 2-0 advantage.
NYIT built a 7-1 lead in the final set and cruised the rest of the way to earn the victory in straight sets.
Olson and Johnson each finished with eight kills and Heffernan added 16 digs. Rraci concluded the match with 12 digs and Runge chipped in 16 assists.
Stonehill 3, Mercy 0
The second match of the day had the Skyhawks jump out to a 10-6 lead before going on a 9-0 run to build a 19-6 margin, and led the rest of the way to take the first set.
Mercy took a 9-7 lead in the second set, but Stonehill came back with five straight points to retake the lead at 12-9. The Mavericks ensued with a 7-4 run to even the score up at 16-16, but the Skyhawks responded with a 4-0 spurt to regain the lead at 20-16 and held on for a 2-0 lead.
Stonehill built a 21-15 lead in the third set and looked to be on their way to an easy third win set. However, Mercy had other ideas as they came back with five in a row to cut the deficit to one, 21-20, but the Skyhawks closed the set with four in a row to seal the match.
Heffernan and Velasco contributed 14 and 12 digs, respectively, and Olson added a team-high five kills.
Head Coach Kelly Wengerter and the Mavericks will resume action on Tuesday, October 20th as they travel to The College of New Rochelle for a 7 p.m. first serve.
